The power utility said some 27 companies had stated that they intended to provide a response to the RFI.

Eskom said on Wednesday that it was receiving positive response from the market to the Request for Information (RFI) issued in relation to the proposed South African Nuclear New Build Programme.

The power utility said some 27 companies had stated that they intended to provide a response to the RFI, including major nuclear vendors from China (SNPTC), France (EdF), Russia (Rosatom Overseas) and South Korea (KEPCO).

Eskom’s interim group chief executive, Matshela Koko, said: “Eskom is looking forward to the information supplied to confirm our understanding of the key issues that impact the timing and affordability of a nuclear programme.”

Eskom said while the intention to submit a response to the RFI did not commit a company to submit a response to a potential future Request for Proposal (RFP), the quantum of the response to Eskom’s RFI showed the level of competitive interest in the South African Nuclear New Build Programme.

Eskom issued the RFI on its website in December 2016 and asked companies that felt they could provide relevant information to confirm by 31 January 2017 that they would be submitting a response to it.

Cabinet in June designated Eskom as the procurer, owner and operator for the multi-million rand nuclear build programme to initially provide 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear energy at least by 2030.

But according to the base case scenario in the Integrated Resource Plan unveiled by Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson in November, only 1,359 megawatt of nuclear power would be added to the country’s energy mix by 2037 and the volume of renewable energy would rise significantly.